Problem: Mrs D. is a 35 years female presenting to her GP with a respiratory infection. She has a severe sore throat and is constantly coughing up greenish phlegm. She is prescribed amoxicillin orally.
A) Describe the mechanism of action of amoxicillin? After 3 days Mrs D. feels much better and decides she does not need to finish her course of amoxicillin. A few days later, she finds herself in bed with worse symptoms than she had originally.
B) Explain what could explain this turn of events and discuss the mechanisms involved. It is determined that penicillin-based drugs are still useful for Mrs D.
C) Discuss alternative drug treatments that still make use of the penicillin class of drugs that could be used and explain the rationale.